7. What was the best baseball game of 2005?MVP 2005: 55%MLB 2K5: 45%Reader Response: Exclusive licensing is bad for the gamer, even if it may be good for a company. I am an avid proponent of MVP baseball and find it to be head and shoulders above all baseball game competition. It got better and better every year. It is the best looking, and had the best feel of pitching (first with the pitch meter) and hitting (directional hitting by pointing the left stick, instead of get my bat icon on the ball). Sure EA didnt do everything right (no 2 player season or franchise, that lefty glitch problem, bad estimations of player ratings), but they fixed many problems. The glitch is gone, we can edit rosters as much as we want, and im sure with the forward developement of the series, the game could become even better than it already was. Will we get an EA MLB baseball game for Ps3 or 360 in the next few years, or will the other company step up and start over to even come close to MVP? Probably not. And in that case i guess i will be playing MVP baseball 2005 for a long time. I think that football fans got off easy through this license thing. Madden and the other football game were fairly similar in quality. However, the big losers in this are the baseball fans like me who are now stuck with 1 of 3 things; a sub par 2k game, a colege baseball game ("look #32 just went deep off of #2"), or a LONG wait for either the agreement to be done or a complete new game from 2k..... Baseball fans are in trouble. Ryan WallIn the Baseball MVP played way more sim and it felt a lot more authentic then 2k Baseball. 2k again better presentaiton and personality, but jerky animations and A.I. , and I felt like I was hitting a wiffle ball.8. What is the best current-gen basketball game of 2005?NBA 2K6: 75%NBA Live 06: 25%Reader Response: quite simply I'm a true sports fan, that being said, I'm a NBA 2k guy. However, I'm much more impressed by the effort that EA puts into actually making the game (NBA Live) fun and new. Not just the all-star weekend, but smaller things that have a huge effect on the gameplay. The hostility level of the crowd is a huge part of what makes any sport fun for a gamer. to hear the masses going crazy when your in a zone! I also think some actual fun should be added to the custom player mode. Maybe my custom guy doesn't want to wear a jersey. Shirts & skins! That way he can show off more tattoos. Okay I'm getting off point. 2k is far superior. But they need to try to be a lot more fun. Its like NBA Live represents the generation we live in, while 2k is that old strict parent. and please 2k, I'm beggin' ya, it's a new gen now, lets not be lazy. It's time for a complete makeover. Not the controls, thats perfect, but everything else is "throw back". I say do like EA, but better. Tear it down and build it back. "if you change it...they will play"JaySorry, but in your comments you wrote that the EA basketball titles played like arcade. My question is have you seen 2k6? It looks like a Saturday Morning Cartoon representing the best players in the game like a freaking animated comedy show. I also don't like the feel of the shot stick or the dribbling in 2k6 either. Plus the animations for dunking look unrealistic and artsy not innovative and life-like. I don't think that 2k6 is realistic basketball and the presentation is not great. Now I haven't played either version of the next-gen but I don't think I want to either. EA rules all and needs to continue on their streak, 2k has never swung for the fences and has never hit a home-run. I can't wait for the baseball title to suck like last years did and the license to go to the rightful owner. Viva la MVP!!!Paul H. EA sports gamerIn my opinion, both companies have been releasing great games in the past years. I like Live 2005 and Games like NBA 2k3 or EA's NHL 02 (the most legendary commentary - at least in the german version) are legendary. But overall, I do prefer 2K Games, though I've sticked with EA Sports for years. Why is that? Although EA's Sports Games are not bad, they tend to be too arcadish, even if EA Canada regularly states that they have improved realism in the Live series. The rivalry between NBA Live and NBA 2k is a good example to show why I prefer 2K Sports: I think, EA Sports has very good ideas, comes up with great stuff every year and are more creative than 2K Sports. But when it comes to implementing these ideas into a game, they keep overdoing it. Live 03 had the Freestyle Control: you could dominate your opponents only by using the new feature. Live 04, Pro-Hop and separate shoot buttons: same problem, I kept hopping to win when I played Live 04 (and I was adjusting the sliders, yes). Live 05, everything tuned down a bit, and all of a sudden, it was more realistic; but the implemented feature (controlling tip-ins and putbacks; GREAT IDEA!) was overdone, too: I often had 7 or more offensive rebounds in a row (with adjusted sliders, of course...). Live 06: Well..... Apparently, EA Canada has been overdoing it yet again; The Freestyle Superstars dominate the game completely, the new fast break engine leads the user to playing more fast breaks than set plays.What I am trying to say: EA keeps focusing too much on their new features rather than on the whole game itself. Every year it seems to me as tough the EA Crew had so much fun with their developed feature that they forgot to look at the game as a whole; they develop their ideas, create great additions, but they do it isolated from the game.That's why I prefer NBA 2K by now; in opposition to EA Sports they've always had their focus on the overall simulation.BTW: I still think that a fusion of NBA Live and NBA 2K would result in the greatest basketball game ever. Don't you reckon that would be a great idea? Maybe only for one year (otherwise there wouldn't be any competition between basketball games any longer) Cheers Bj¿rn Messerli